| This article focuses on Real-Life and therefore, it should not be canon to the show. |
Eddie Mort (born September 1, 1961) is the creator of the critically acclaimed animated series, ¡Mucha Lucha!. He is also a character designer and a producer of both the show and "The Return of El Maléfico" movie.
He has produced many animated projects from a range of shorts to pilot and series. In several projects, he worked with Lili Chin under the production of Fwak! Animation.
Biography[]
Eddie Mort was born in Manchester, England. When he was 10, he emigrated from England to Australia, and developed a love for Harvey Comics and 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Before he got into animation, he worked as filing clerk at the Dept. of Veterans Affair and gas pumper. He was into animation after watching some of Ralph Bakshi's works, as well as Ren and Stimpy, so he started to pursued animation.
In 1991, Mort started working on his animation career at Walt Disney Television Animation as inbetweener for Disney's Goof Troop. However, he wasn't credited in any of the episodes that he worked on, and he was only there to train for animation.
Later on, Mort formed his first studio Fudge Puppy Productions in 1996 to create his first short film "Dr. Amoeba". He also collaborated with Nickelodeon Australia to produce several short films. Mort created two of his short films, "Snout" and "Odd Squad". He also directed and designed characters in one of Nick's shorts, "The Adventures of Hot Chunks".
In 2000, Mort went on to established Fwak! Animation with Lili Chin, while working on a new project. Mort created some of the adult web series such as "Rudo by Night", "Afro Baby", "Dr. Amoeba" series, and "The Fuzz" from Locomotion.com, which were produced under Fwak! Animation.
As he continued on his animation career, Mort and Chin created the pilot, "Lucha School" for Warner Bros. Animation that would later be known as "¡Mucha Lucha! in the following year. Mort co-created ¡Mucha Lucha! along with Chin, and they also worked on character designers and produced most of the episodes including the direct-to-video movie, "The Return of El Maléfico". He also wrote some of the episodes from the series and a mini comic series from DC Comics.
In 2003, Mort moved to Los Angeles to continue with the production from Warner Bros. Animation as he is now associated with the studio as an employee.
As the production of ¡Mucha Lucha! continues, he created a short film commission, "Cosmic Baby" for Cartoon Network Asia/Pacific. He also animated and directed several promos from Boomerang in mid-2000s. Before the cancellation, he created some of his short
In 2007, Mort and Chin went on to create and produced their first animated film, "Los Campeones de La Lucha Libre", which was produced and distributed by Cine Azteca. Mort also directed his first animated film, which was released in Mexico and Los Angeles in 2008, and then on DVD in 2011.
In 2011, Mort and Chin created the pilot for their next series, "Dead Ringo", which was screened during SIGGRAPH 2012 in the following year. He created more animated pilots such as "Skaville" and "Chicharito Unidos". Then, Mort directed and animated a segment from MAD, which was produced by Warner Bros. Animation.
In the following year, he created and produced several more animated short films and written "Cuatro Gatos", a segment from Sesame Street. He also produced "¡Mucha Lucha! Para Siempre", a revival from the main series, but the revival pitch has not picked up from Warner Bros. yet.
Besides working in animation industries, Mort illustrated two books "Gorilla Sandwich" and "It's A Long Way to the Top", which was published by Penguin. He also designed and wrote his novel "The Kinky Kasperovich Konundrum".
After 15 years, he left Los Angeles and now currently lives in Brighton, England with his family. Then in 2019, he developed a series of prints which features his characters taking place in different Brighton landmarks and held his first exhibition featuring his print series at Brighton's Hotel Pelirocco. Although, he continues to work on new animated projects, designing new characters, and creating stories based on his inspiration.
Credits[]
Under Construction!
Trivia[]
- One of his favorite episodes he worked on is "Shamrock 'n Roll" and "Medico Mayhem".
- He also has produced music when he isn't working on the show.
- Before producing his own music, he used to be part of the band called, "Shanghai Au Go Go".
- He also worked on the DC Comics miniseries as a writer.
- He is friend with Jorge R. Gutierrez, who designed characters for the second season and "The Return of El Maléfico" movie. He is also friend with Sandra Equihua, who also designed characters for the movie.
- He commented that Harvey Comics, 1960s Hanna-Barbera, Ralph Bakshi, and Ren & Stimpy all influenced his work, including ¡Mucha Lucha!
- He also was influenced by great French artists Serge Clerc and Yves Chaland.
- While Mort did enjoy the animations of Disney, he said that Disney couldn’t be emulated at the time.
- His first sequence that he worked as a layout artist was a Hanna-Barbera cartoon, "2 Stupid Dogs" in the episode: "Lawnmowing Day".
- He runs an art account dedicated to the production from ¡Mucha Lucha! on Tumblr called, "Mucha Lucha! Para Siempre" based on the same name for the planned revival of the series.
- He had a channel for episode commentary on the show called, "Slammin Donuts Mucha Lucha-thon" on Dailymotion, but unfortunately all the videos have been deleted due to possibly low views or copyright claimed.
- However, he has a Youtube channel with a same name of his former Dailymotion channel, where he uploads animated projects inspired by ¡Mucha Lucha! and various animation breakdowns from the episode of the show.
- He is currently working on Super Lucha!, a board game that is inspired by ¡Mucha Lucha!, as a character designer.
External Links[]
- Eddie Mort's Official Website
- Eddie Mort's Twitter
- Eddie Mort's Tumblr
- Eddie Mort's Instagram
- Eddie Mort's Bluesky
References[]
- http://www.animationinsider.com/2011/05/eddie-mort/
- https://ozanimate.com/2d/an-interview-with-director-eddie-mort/
- http://archive.ttbook.org/book/lili-chin-and-eddie-mort-mucha-lucha